Joe Paterno, hero

Posted on: November 8, 2011 7:27 pm

Edited on: November 8, 2011 7:41 pm

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- More than 1,000 Penn State students gave Joe Paterno the hero treatment on Tuesday night, gathering outside his house to wave supportive signs and chant his name -- and roaring in glee when he stepped outside to thank them.

"You've been great, just great," Paterno said softly, comments that couldn't have been heard by more than 25 people.

Paterno said something else that surely wasn't heard by most of the crowd, which is a shame:

"The victims," Paterno said. "Say prayers for them."

That message didn't get to the outer edges, to people who weren't there to hear deep thoughts. They were there to touch or just glimpse the winningest coach in Division I history -- who is also one of the handful of Penn State officials who didn't call the police in 2002 after learning that an eyewitness on his coaching staff had accused former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky of sexually assaulting a young boy in a shower on campus.

One Penn State fan outside Paterno's house waved a sign that read, "Two of my favorite J's: Jesus and Joe Paterno."

This scandal has turned campus into Bizarro World, a place where up is down and wrong is right and Joe Paterno is serenaded by students who were roughly the same age, in 2002, as Sandusky's alleged shower victim.

Meanwhile, off campus, people are horrified. It seems to be the dominant opinion elsewhere that Paterno, like the handful of other Penn State officials with knowledge of the alleged assault -- the grad assistant who saw it, the athletics director who was told about it -- concerned themselves only with the minimum legal standards in 2002. The moral minimum would have been to call the police. Nobody did.

I had that very argument Tuesday night with a Penn State student, who apparently recognized me as I stood on Paterno's lawn and asked me, accusingly, "Don't you hate Paterno?"

Me: I don't hate him. But I think he should be fired.

Her: Why?

Me: Because there are eight [alleged] victims that we know about, and who knows how many more, and Paterno had the chance to stop it in 2002 and he didn't.

Her: Oh my god! He did what he was supposed to do! He told his boss!

Me: That was the bare minimum, and if you think that's great, I don't know what to tell you.

Her: I don't think it's great, I just think ... put it this way: Would you have called the police? Really? Would you?

Me: Of course. It's not even a question.

And there our conversation ended. We'd both heard enough, and we'd heard nothing. She wasn't listening to me, and I wasn't listening to her. But I was still listening to the crowd, which was chanting even as it was dispersed from Paterno's yard by police:

"We want Joe!"

Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

"We want Joe!"

After that chant died down, another started. It was a chant that showed the priorities of the 1,000 students who gathered outside the house of one of the few men on the planet who had the ability to stop an alleged pedophile in 2002 ... but didn't do it. Paterno told his boss, yes, but he didn't tell the police, even after it was clear that nobody else was going to tell the police. An alleged pedophile roamed State College, Pa., for another nine years. But that wasn't on the minds of the 1,000 people on Paterno's lawn Tuesday night.

Joe Paterno, hero

1 gets busted. And then there's a thousand other losers cheering him on. These people have no shame. What a great time to be an American...

Since: Nov 14, 2011

Posted on: November 14, 2011 7:25 pm

Joe Paterno, hero

It really was absolute lock step wasn't it. Really everyone in the media is in agreement he should have done more. I think this is a joke, he did what he was supposed to do period. Don't blame Joe because the AD didn't do his job.

Since: Nov 10, 2011

Posted on: November 10, 2011 11:22 am

Joe Paterno, hero

Does anyone know the actual policy and reporting requirements that Penn State requires of their employees for reporting this type of criminal behavior? Was it followed by the employees and is there any restrictions they must follow in terms of employment of their communication? Is it in alignment with State and Federal reporting guidelines or do they require internal investigation first before reporting the violation to legal authorities?

Since: Nov 10, 2011

Posted on: November 10, 2011 11:21 am

Joe Paterno, hero

The Joe Paterno set up is a practice lynching by a news media that is flexing it’s re-purposed muscles for use in eventually bbitch slapping the public into line behind some things we are not going to like. By sitting still for this we have encouraged the next progressive step in this process which we have been seeing in the last decades, mostly, on the level of political character assassination. This is going to get bad.

Since: Jul 15, 2011

Posted on: November 9, 2011 12:09 am

Joe Paterno, hero

Penn State students are now rioting in Happy Valley. What a bunch of idiots. My PSU alumni friends are mortified in their embarrassement of the students' shenanigans.

Paterno needs to be fired, yesterday.

Since: Sep 21, 2006

Posted on: November 8, 2011 11:57 pm

Joe Paterno, hero

The girl Doyel talked to should not be allowed to reproduce. Every one of those students who were at that disgraceful rally should be locked in a room and forced to read the 23-page grand jury document.

Since: Nov 8, 2011

Posted on: November 8, 2011 11:33 pm

Joe Paterno, hero

I'm note a supporter of PSU or Joe Pa....My Question remains the same why after Sandusky admitted to fondling a young boy in 1998 did the DA drop the charges? Thats 4 years earlier! Do you think this warped SOB did nothing for 4 years? He should've been banned from PSU in 98. Point all the fingers you want....Still doesn't explain why this wasn't stopped 4 years earlier.

Since: Aug 15, 2010

Posted on: November 8, 2011 10:42 pm

Joe Paterno, hero

Despicable JOPA not going beyond what was only reguired by law to do.Yet MR. EGO was "shocked", oh my qawd.Wondered what his reactions would have been had it been his grandchildren, hmmmm.Get him out of that plush press box and football,he's not deserving to be there.Then on the news the few and proud State Penn students gathering at his residence,sickening as well.Chanting beat Nebraska, they are damn lucky they aren't playing at Neb. those fans would have made JOPA wish he resigned coming out with the team.State Penn already lost one recruit because they want no part of a program that is so flithy.God Bless those abused victims...

Since: Sep 3, 2011

Posted on: November 8, 2011 9:58 pm

Joe Paterno, hero

sad, and a damn shamebut really who cares about JoePa, we should be concerned about the 8 to 20 kids

Since: Feb 9, 2007

Posted on: November 8, 2011 9:35 pm

Joe Paterno, hero

Nobody knows what you would do in that moment.. My guess is Id be scared, horrified and shell-shocked. My best guess is that I would of at least yelled something to have it stopped and let Sandusky know that I had witnessed what was taking place.

As for someone assuring what they would do is preposterous. But after the fact it is safe to assume that a lot of us would have notified the police and if I were (MM) personally would of said something to Sandusky.

There surely will be more facts coming....I was in shock reading the transcripts and could not be sure how I would of reacted when seeing this crime take place..